Kind of Blue: A Political Memoir

Ken Clarke needs no introduction. One of the genuine 'Big Beasts' of the political scene, during his 46 years as the Member of Parliament for Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire he has been at the very heart of government under three prime ministers. He is a political obsessive with a personal hinterland, as well known as a Tory Wet with Europhile views as for his love of cricket, Nottingham Forest Football Club and jazz.

Speaking Out: Lessons in Life and Politics

On the night of 7 May 2015, Ed Balls thought there was a chance he would wake up the next morning as the new Chancellor of the Exchequer. Instead he woke up without a job. For two decades he had occupied a central position within Labour, rising from adviser to Cabinet Minister during the years in power and Shadow Chancellor in Opposition. Throughout one of the most tumultuous periods in recent British history, he made a point of speaking out, whatever the consequences.

Election Notebook

Just after 10 o'clock on Thursday, 7th May 2015, Nick Robinson stared down the lens of camera five in the BBC's Election Night Studio to explain to millions the significance of an exit poll that shocked the country and heralded an earthquake in British politics. That moment was a personal milestone for the BBC's political editor, who had been discharged from hospital just hours earlier following weeks of treatment for cancer and the loss of his voice after surgery.

Cameron at 10: The Inside Story 2010 - 2015

Five years in the making, Cameron at 10 is the gripping inside story of the Cameron premiership, based on over 300 in-depth interviews with senior figures in 10 Downing Street, including the Prime Minister himself. As dusk descended on 11 May 2010, David Cameron entered 10 Downing Street as the youngest prime minister since Lord Liverpool in 1812. He stood at the head of the first Coalition government in 65 years, with the country in dire economic straits following a deep financial crisis.

Politics: Between the Extremes

Politics has changed. Five years ago Britain had a coalition government built on compromise. Now the Conservatives rule unchallenged, a chasm has opened up between Left and Right and the centre ground is deserted. Nick Clegg knows the volatile state of modern politics better than anyone else.

Live from Downing Street

The relationship between those who wield power and those whose job it is to tell us what they are doing has always been fraught with tension. Politicians now expect to be on camera and facing aggressive questions from the moment they open their front door to the moment they return home at night. Everything they say and do is instantly broadcast and dissected on 24-hour news channels, blogs, and Twitter. It was not always this way. Live from Downing Street takes us on an absorbing journey through the hard-fought battles for the right to tell the public about the decisions taken on their behalf.

Unleashing Demons: The Inside Story of Brexit

As David Cameron's director of politics and communications, Craig Oliver was in the room at every key moment during the EU referendum - the biggest political event in the UK since World War II. Craig Oliver worked with all the players, including David Cameron, George Osbourne, Barack Obama, Angela Merkel, Jeremy Corbyn, Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Theresa May and Peter Mandelson.

The Long and Winding Road

From the condemned slums of Southam Street in West London to the corridors of power in Westminster, Alan Johnson's multiaward-winning autobiography charts an extraordinary journey, almost unimaginable in today's Britain. This third volume tells of Alan's early political skirmishes as a trades union leader, where his negotiating skills and charismatic style soon came to the notice of Tony Blair and other senior members of the Labour Party.

Pete Townshend: Who I Am

He is one of the greatest musical talents Britain has ever produced. But even as the principle songwriter and lead guitarist for The Who, it would be unjust to define Pete Townshend's life simply through his achievements with bandmates Daltrey, Moon, and Entwistle. Noting that he has sold over 100 million records over a 50-year period goes some way to quantifying his accomplishments, but numbers only scratch the surface of his contribution to popular culture.

A Life in Questions

The witty, incisive and frank memoir of the best-selling author of The Victorians, Jeremy Paxman, whose career at the BBC included 25 years as the uncompromising presenter of Newsnight. Covering insights on politicians of every stamp over the last half century, reporting from war zones, the state of the BBC, the role of journalism in our political system and much more, Jeremy Paxman's long-awaited and candid memoir is packed with opinions and good humour on every page.

The Black Door: Spies, Secret Intelligence and British Prime Ministers

The Black Door explores the evolving relationship between successive British Prime Ministers and the intelligence agencies, from Asquith's Secret Service Bureau to Cameron's National Security Council. At the beginning of the 20th Century the British intelligence system was underfunded and lacked influence in government. But as the new millennium dawned, intelligence had become so integral to policy that it was used to make the case for war.

Empire of Things: How We Became a World of Consumers, from the Fifteenth Century to the Twenty-First

What we consume has become the defining feature of our lives: our economies live or die by spending, we are treated more as consumers than workers and even public services are presented to us as products in a supermarket. In this monumental study, acclaimed historian Frank Trentmann unfolds the extraordinary history that has shaped our material world, from late Ming China, Renaissance Italy and the British Empire to the present.

The Conservatives

The history of the Conservative party has, extraordinarily, rarely been written in a single volume for the general reader. There are academic multi-volume accounts and a multitude of smaller books with limited historical scope. But now, Robin Harris, Margaret Thatcher's speechwriter and party insider, has produced this authoritative but lively history book which tells the whole story and fills a gaping hole in Britain's historiographical record.

Big Sam: My Autobiography

A rollicking football memoir from one of the best-known figures in British football. With nearly 20 years as a player - plus almost 25 years as a coach and manager - under his belt, Sam Allardyce is one of the most recognisable figures in British football. "Big Sam" was a robust defensive general throughout the '70s and '80s and has been an imposing touchline presence as a gaffer since 1994. Until he left West Ham in the summer of 2015, he was the second longest-serving manager in the Premier League.

This Boy

Alan Johnson's childhood was not so much difficult as unusual, particularly for a man who was destined to become Home Secretary. Not in respect of the poverty, which was shared with many of those living in the slums of postwar Britain, but in its transition from two-parent family to single mother and then to no parents at all.... This is essentially the story of two incredible women: Alan's mother, Lily, who battled against poor health, poverty, domestic violence and loneliness to try to ensure a better life for her children; and his sister, Linda, who had to assume an enormous amount of responsibility at a very young age and who fought to keep the family together.

Ever the Diplomat: Confessions of a Foreign Office Mandarin

In this entertaining and engaging memoir, former ambassador Sherard Cowper-Coles lifts the lid on embassy life throughout the world. For over 30 years Sherard Cowper-Coles was on the diplomatic front line in a distinguished Foreign Office career that took him from the corridors of power in Whitehall to a string of high-profile posts across the globe.

Hard Choices

Hillary Rodham Clinton's inside account of the crises, choices, and challenges she faced during her four years as America's 67th Secretary of State, and how those experiences drive her view of the future. In the aftermath of her 2008 presidential run, she expected to return to representing New York in the United States Senate. To her surprise, her former rival for the Democratic Party nomination, newly elected President Barack Obama, asked her to serve in his administration as Secretary of State. This memoir is the story of the four extraordinary and historic years that followed.

The Pursuit of Power: Europe 1815-1914

The Pursuit of Power draws on a lifetime of thinking about 19th-century Europe to create an extraordinarily rich, surprising and entertaining panorama of a continent undergoing drastic change. The aim of this audiobook is to reignite the sense of wonder that permeated this remarkable era, as rulers and ruled navigated overwhelming cultural, political and technological changes.

Publisher's Summary

The autobiography of Jack Straw - an MP for 33 years and at the heart of government throughout the longest-serving Labour administration in history.

As a small boy in Epping Forest, Jack Straw could never have imagined that one day he would become Britain's Lord Chancellor. As one of five children of divorced parents, he was bright enough to get a scholarship to a direct-grant school, but spent his holidays as a plumbers' mate for his uncles to bring in some much-needed extra income. Yet he spent 13 years and 11 days in government, including long and influential spells as Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary.

This is the story of how he got there. His memoirs offer a unique insight into the complex, sometimes self-serving but always fascinating world of British politics and reveals the toll that high office takes, but, more importantly, the enormous satisfaction and extraordinary privilege of serving both your constituents and your country. Straw's has been a very public life, but he reveals the private face, too, and offers listeners a vivid and authoritative insight into the Blair/Brown era and, indeed, the last 40 years of British politics.

What the Critics Say

"Straw has an ear for anecdote and quotation, and is honest about his difficult early life; self-justifying, but also self-aware about his record, including as Foreign Secretary during the Iraq war" (Books of the Year, Independent on Sunday)

I never been much of a fan of autobiographies and am fairly agnostic about Jack Short, but I bought this after hearing a podcast where he discussed his experience in office. I found the book incredibly interesting and well read. I particularly liked the opportunity to hear the reasoning behind a number of his and Labour's key decisions. Unlike many autobiographies this doesn't provide endless detail on events that were only likely to be of interest to you if you were there and I must confess it's the only autobiography I've actually made it to the end of! I would definitely recommend this audiobook.

I enjoyed listening to the memoirs of Mr Jack Straw !I drive a truck for a living and have never followed politics very closely until recently, as I am middle aged (im 48 but still 20 in my head) I listen to a lot of audio books as I do my job, I like to listen to history as I drive and from an interest in past events I now find myself interested in the politics of the past !I enjoyed this audio book very much, Mr Straw you are a top bloke !

Up to now I’ve avoided political autobiographies believing that independent biographies probably give a truer picture, however, favourable reviews of this book tempted me into down-loading it. I I’ve always thought Jack Straw an honest and modest politician doing his best even though I haven't supported his party . This book has re-enforced this view, but most of all it’s an absorbing account of British and World politics and events over the last 50 years. Politicians have had a bad press in recent years owing to various scandals, but I’m left with the strong impression that a cabinet minister’s life is often thankless, gruelling and insecure. It’s to his credit that he doesn’t shy away from revealing the impact of the strain of the job on his mental health.

His descriptions of his grandparents and parents tough lives and the disruption and deprivations of his childhood owing to the breakup of his parents marriage make it easy to see where is political views were formed. It’s remarkable how much he achieved in life after such fraught beginnings. Rightly he doesn’t parade his wife and children but they are obviously an anchor in his life. Fears of assassination, in recent decades, means that a minister and his family’s existence is circumscribed by security measures that most of us would find unacceptably intrusive. It’s a wonder that people seek out a life in politics.

I very much enjoyed this book as it gave an inside view of how government is run and decisions are made by someone who was at the heart of government for many years; and reveals how the personality of politicians impinges on the way that events and crises are dealt with; and is honest about the faults and mistakes he and his colleagues made.

By narrating the book himself, and doing it well, made events and the people he met come to life.

Parts of this book, particularly the early and later chapters were very interesting and 'held' the reader. The middle sections tended to become a series of events where the author was mostly 'right' and the 'others' were in the wrong! Similar to most politicians.

I was too young to fully appreciate what Jack was doing when he was in office and it is only through listening to this book, which is brilliantly written and read, that I realise what a debt we have to him, regardless of politics. Stepping down as an MP soon he is going to be a humongous loss, I really hope that there are some young politicians who can fill his shoes, we desperately need them. Fascinating book, touching, funny, detailed and well written. Thanks Jack